Golf | Strong start for Naperville North, Benet

Kate Ryan of Naperville Central tees off at the Naperville City Championship. (Jeff Banowetz, Special to the Tribune)

The golf season may have just begun, but it looks at lot like last year for several Naperville teams and players.

At the McGonagle Naperville City Championships at the Naperville Country Club Tuesday, six area high schools kicked off the season by taking on one of the toughest courses in the area. Both the boys and girls teams from Benet Academy, Matea Valley, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley competed for bragging rights in the area.

Neuqua Valley's Jessica Yuen, who last year was second in the state as a freshman, won the girls tournament by shooting a 79, one stroke ahead of Naperville North's Taylor Arenson and Benet Academy's Isabella Abbdula, who both shot 80.

"It was a tough course," said Yuen, echoing most of the competitors and coaches. "The greens were tough to read, and they were fast. The second half I played better, but I didn't feel like I played my best today."

Her coach, Neuqua Valley's John Keller, was impressed with how she came back from a rough start. "I think she started with four straight bogeys," he said. "Every time I saw her she said she wasn't playing well — and that's not like her. But I think she was just frustrated. She ended up with a 79, which is the same score she had last year. So she came through in the end."

Despite Yuen's low round, Neuqua Valley couldn't catch Naperville North for the team competition. The Huskies won easily with a score of 345, the total score of the team's top four players. Benet finished second with 407 and Neuqua Valley was third with 408. Naperville Central was fifth with a score of 412. "This is a good way to start the season," said Naperville Central's coach Jane Thompson. "You kind of get a feel for how everyone is doing and where the competition is."

The toughest competition will be coming from Central's biggest rival. "We will be competitive, but we're always going to be in the field with Naperville North," Thompson says. "And they are just incredibly strong this year. They have a great group of kids and from 1 to 6 they are incredibly deep.

"But we're really young," she said. "I've got one freshmen, two seniors and some sophomores. I think we've got a nice balance where we can be competitive and gain some experience at the same time."

On the boy's side, Naperville North's Griffin Brown took the top spot. He shot 78, which tied him with Jason Marrs of Waubonsie Valley, but Brown's birdie on the last hole served as the tie-breaker that gave him the crown.

"I was pretty happy with how I played," Brown said. "I was able to get some shots to fall…I think we've got a good team again this year."

The Naperville North team is coming off of a season last year in which they finished second in the state. But after taking the tournament title the last four years, the Huskies lost to Benet by a single stroke. Benet's top four players shot 327 to Naperville North's 328. Waubonsie Valley nudged Neuqua Valley for third, 337 to 338. Naperville Central finished sixth with 358.

"I'm happy with how we started the season," said Naperville North's coach Ryan Hantak. The day before, at the Bob Sterr Redhawk Open hosted by Naperville Central, the Huskies also finished second, losing to Benet by nine strokes.

"Obviously losing by one stroke stinks, but I think we're playing pretty well, especially for early in the season," he said. "So hopefully we keep getting better and we don't peak right now. That's what we want to do."

Brown also took the one stroke team loss as a way to focus on the future.

"I think it will give us good motivation for the rest of the year," he said. "We're in reach — we just have to keep getting better."

Naperville Central's Uzair Khan led his team with an 88. Redhawks coach Barry Baldwin is hoping the experience will help his young team.

"We're going to have to grow a lot," he said. "We have a lot of guys playing in their first varsity match. Of the guys here today, only one of them has played here before. It's not how you start the season, it's how you end it, and we're hoping that come the conference tournament and regionals, we're running on all cylinders."